


The Doctor That Said Candlejack's Name

by TGP



Series: The Doctor That Said Candlejack's Name [2]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Supernatural
Genre: Ambiguous prose, Creepy, Eldritch Clock, Gen, Multiple Doctors - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-20
Updated: 2013-04-20
Packaged: 2017-12-08 23:52:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/767542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TGP/pseuds/TGP
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The clock is tick tick tick ticking away and he has so much to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Doctor That Said Candlejack's Name

_That_ Doctor would tell you that hope is the only thing one can hold onto. It is the only thing that will save us. _This_ Doctor doesn't understand and he can't believe it because he believes in nothing. Not really. He's too busy yearning and searching and running away. _This_ Doctor has spent his entire existence running away.

The Doctor that said Candlejack's name would only smile and laugh and then cause ruin and chaos in his wake.

\------

If he had to choose, the worst sound he's ever heard is breathing. It's slow and even, speeding here and there as dreams shift and spin and become completely new animals. He wishes he knew what those dreams were. Frankly, he already owns the head that dreams them so really, in all actuality, he's entitled to know.

“Some day, I'll make you tell me all about them. Write them in a book so I can look through them at my leisure.”

There's no answer. There hasn't been one in a very long time. But he waits still.

Sometimes, he thinks about the conversations they might have if not for the sleep. But that tends to vex him further. He's tired of the silence and the breathing and the careful pattern of _tick tick tick tick._ Slowly, his eyes lift up to the clock overshadowing the world. It's so many times greater than him, hanging above like a low moon with hands winding this way and that, smaller faces inlaid upon each of the thousand hours with their own set of faces within them. Even if it weren't for the incessant ticking of countless hands, the sound would still live on in his head.

_Tick tick tick tick._

_Breath in. Breath out._

_Tick tick tick tick._

_Breath in. Breath out._

He hates it but he can't leave. He can't allow any vulnerability.

“I'm going to tear you apart when you open your eyes,” he vows but the sleep continues uninterrupted.

He thinks about putting his hands upon the delicate throat and cutting this off right here and now. Making this stop. _Freeing_ himself, but all he can do is trace the pulse beating slow and easy under pale skin. And it is steady, beating in time with the _tick tick tick tick._ It should soothe him. It doesn't.

Eventually, he gets up and walks around to try and out run his frustration but it's always there in the back of his mind: the ticking clock, the beat of the sleeper's hearts. It rings a truth so painfully deep within him that he wants to tear into his own chest so he can rid himself of it.

He doesn't want to listen. He doesn't want to _know_.

He smiles because he's going to break it all apart.

\-----

 _This_ Doctor has been searching for home. He doesn't know how taking in Sam Winchester will help this, but he's still trying. He can feel the dogs nipping at his heels and he can't stay still. He can't let Sam slow him down. He has to find home and before he's found.

Sam Winchester doesn't understand much about _this_ Doctor. But he recognizes a man with too much to lose because he's seen the same look in his brother's eyes. Dean would probably hate him for the comparison, but Dean already hated him for a lot of things. It had never diminished how much Dean loved him.

Sam misses Dean. But he knows the only way to get home is to tag along with _this_ Doctor until he finds out why he had a photograph of him and why he was dragged from the cage.

 _That_ Doctor wishes he could lead them. But he's too busy keeping together the fragile strings of the multiverse into something that won't implode in with the weight of itself. Besides, he believes in them because all he's ever been able to do is _hope_.

\-----

He's gotten over the smell of blood these days. It's the rush that gets him. It's the moment of harvest that makes his hearts beat fast and unsteady. He laughs through it all because if he stops, he'll start sobbing and never stop. He has to laugh. He has to remember why. He has to think of the truth.

He watches as another face in the time piece slows and stalls and stills. He laughs and there are tears rolling down his cheeks and he just laughs harder. He feels it pulsing within him, joining that which he has harvested already. It's not enough. It won't wake him. He needs more.

He always needs more.

“Are you hungry?” he asks and because he knows there will be no reply, he passes on as if there were. “I could eat a universe or two but I have to watch my figure.”

There isn't even a twitch. He moves to rake his nails down the sleeper's chest but he doesn't because they're still bright with the flecks of power and life and everything. It's mesmerizing. He settles against the platform and stares as his eyes continue to leak. He's so sick with everything but this is enough right now. It's not enough for what he needs to do, but he can... He can wait. He can watch. He can enjoy a few tiny moments that are _his_.

“Almost there,” he whispers to himself in a single, shining second of clarity. “I'm almost finished.”

_Tick tick tick tick._

_Breath in. Breath out._

_Tick tick tick tick._

_Breath in. Breath out._

His eyes lift to the clock face above him. He stares across the expanse of it and loses count of the many faces still moving, still taunting him. He has so much still to do, so many seconds he must leave the sleeper's side but it will all be worth it.

He smiles because he wants to cry.

He smiles because he can't fail.

He smiles because he's going to break it all apart.


End file.
